Introduction
I want to open this morning with a challenge for you. No matter who you are, your position or title; no matter what kind of degree you hold, or how long you’ve been coming to church. No matter how much or how little you read your Bible, no matter if you think I’m right or I’m wrong; if you are a passionate follower of Jesus or don’t believe at all. I want you this morning to clear your mind of everything you think you know and take a fresh look at the gospel today. We need this. Our nation needs this. Our city needs this. Our church needs this.
It seems to me that there are so many movements out there attempting to rebrand Christianity. Many of you know that I playfully pick on the attempts of pastors to be “relevant” by wearing skinny jeans. I’m not being critical, I’m just poking fun at the idea of the pervasive need to continue to find new and creative ways to make the gospel palatable in the hearts of people. The fact is, when the Gospel is presented and received in its purest form, nothing should ever be added to it those attempts only water down the beautiful truth of God’s plan.
I want you to understand this because it is critical. The gospel of Jesus Christ, that is the message of forgiveness through the work of Jesus Christ, it is incompatible with any and all other religious belief. It stands alone. The idea that the Christian gospel can mix with or blend with any other religious system in any way is absolutely wrong. You cannot mix the gospel with Catholicism. You cannot mix the gospel with liberalism. You cannot mix the gospel with Mormonism, or Christian Science, or any other "ism”. The Gospel does not bow to any denomination or movement. The gospel is absolutely exclusive. It mixes with no other religion. It accommodates no other religion or man-made tradition. It is absolutely exclusive. This stands in contrast to our post-modern time which exalts diversity of belief, tolerance of religion, pluralism, and universalism.
Christianity is not religious Piety. It’s not a system of formulas. It’s not a series of does and don’t, rules, rituals, or regulations. It’s not trying to ease, please, or appease the Almighty. Christianity, simply put, is about a relationship, a personal, individual, and privileged relationship with God that he initiated and instigated for us. And this is what makes Christianity inherently different from all other world religions. God reaches out to us!
All of this becomes abundantly clear in this week’s passage. Because Jesus is telling his followers and those who are listening exactly this. This also goes for Judaism. Now I say this with caution because this cannot be confused with “replacement theology” which states that the Church replaced Israel as God’s chosen people. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about God’s redemptive plan for salvation. Even in Judaism, which is what Jesus was directly addressing, the sacrificial worship system, the traditions, and so on are incompatible with the gospel. To be clear, Jesus never declared Israel or the Old Testament to be irrelevant but that they are fulfilled completely through him. In fact, the Old Testament is probably more relevant than before with the coming of Jesus. With that in mind, let us hear the Scripture and the message of the Gospel:
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33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” (Luke 5:33–35 ESV)
I. A Question About Fasting
When Jesus calls Matthew to abandon his lucrative tax-collection business to follow him, Matthew hosts a great banquet. The guests include Jesus and his disciples, and a host of people who are considered by the religious establishment as sinners. This raises a question about orthodoxy and appearances of Jesus associated with unrighteous people. So they come after the issue passive-aggressively by comparing Jesus’ disciples with the disciples of John the Baptist. “John’s disciples fast and offer prayers like the Pharisees while your disciples eat and drink. According to Matthew, the disciples of John the Baptist were the ones asking the question (Matt. 9:14). What they're wondering is why doesn't Jesus pay attention to the traditions. Why He doesn't associate with the scribes and Pharisees instead of the tax collectors and prostitutes.
If we wonder why John the Baptist’s disciples would put forth such a biting accusation, we must remember that John himself was an ascetic who lived a barren lifestyle and whose message called for mourning and repentance. (Hughes) Fasting was a huge part of being a religious Jew. The more you fasted, the more spiritual you were. The only time required of fasting by Scripture is the day of atonement. The Pharisees normally fasted on Mondays and Thursdays, although this was not required. Fasting had become in Jesus’ day a prerequisite of religious commitment, a sign of atonement of sin and humiliation and penitence before God, and a general aid to prayer. The rabbis often referred to fasting as “an affliction of the soul,” thereby designating it as a characteristic and sacrificial act of piety. When they fasted it was associated with a histrionic performance: they would wear old, torn clothes, cover their face with ashes, and walk around pretending they’re afflicted by their piety. Jesus taught the opposite:
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2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:2–6 ESV)
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16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:16–18 ESV)
This stood in complete contrast to religious Judaism, and even how John the Baptist’s disciples practiced. In the case of John the Baptist and his disciples, this was in preparation for the coming of Christ. In the case of the Pharisees, it was more because they wanted to show how religious they were. (Ryken). Keep in mind with John the Baptist, is that not all of his disciples were there when Jesus was baptized. Even more, John preached a message of baptism and repentance (Mark 1:4). This was a message of atonement, so fasting would naturally be associated with repentance. Even more interesting is that years later, Paul encountered disciples of John who had never heard of Jesus the Messiah.
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1 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2 And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. 7 There were about twelve men in all. (Acts 19:1–7 ESV)
To me, this underscores the incredible need for discipleship. The Gospel must be taught in explicit, radical, and clear terms, leaving nothing to question. To sprinkle a little Jesus on top of something or add Jesus to another “ism” is betraying the message of the gospel, as Jesus is about to explain.
2. The Gospel Is Good News
The word Gospel is from the greek, “euangélion “good news”; specifically the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ (Matt. 11:5 par. Luke 4:18; Heb. 4:2, 6; 1 Pet. 1:12). In classical Greek, the term originally designated the reward given to a messenger of good tidings and later came to mean the good news itself.” (Eerdmans Bible Dictionary). The idea is of a herald entering a village declaring the victory of the army over an adversary.
Time for celebration, right? Time for fasting? No. “You can’t make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you? 35 But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them—then they will fast in those days.” (Lk 5:34–35). Here’s an amazing caricature of Jesus. The messiah here, this isn’t a time for mourning it is a time for celebration, like at a wedding feast. The ones that have the most to rejoice about the messiah coming are the sinners and the imprisoned. Weddings were a time of celebration. There were special arrangements, flowers, clothes, and a feast that lasted 7 days. Jesus says, "Look, you don't fast at a wedding, do you? A wedding is a celebration and when the bridegroom is there, you celebrate." And in that future time, the wedding joy is going to end. Why? Because the bridegroom is taken from them, apair, snatched. This is the first reference in Luke of the crucifixion.
There’s a big difference between the gospel and religion.
Religion is man-made, the gospel is God-given.
Religion is what man does for God, The gospel is what God does for man.
Religion is a man trying to climb the ladder of his own self-righteousness, with the hope of meeting God on the topmost rung. The gospel is God coming down the ladder of the incarnation of Jesus Christ and meeting us as sinners at the lowest rung.
Religion is good views, the gospel is good news.
Religion is good advice, the gospel is a glorious announcement.
Religion takes a man and leaves him as he is; the gospel takes a man as he is and makes him what he ought to be.
Religion ends in an outer reformation.
Religion whitewashes, the gospel washes white.
Religion often becomes a farce; the gospel is always a force, the power of God unto salvation, to everyone who believes.
There are many religions, but only one Gospel. (Dallas Linaman)
So now we come to Jesus’ second parable:
3. The Gospel Doesn’t Fit
36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ ” (Luke 5:36–39 ESV)
The illustration is very simple. If you have a worn garment that has torn, you cannot patch it with a new piece of material without causing the garment even greater damage. The reason being that the old material has already shrunk. If you sew a patch of new material over the hole, the new material does not match the old and will shrink with washing causing the new seams to tear the old material. You cannot fix religious practices patching it with moral reforms.
The second example makes the same point. Luke 5: 37-38, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilt out, and the skins will be ruined. 38? But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.” There were a couple of ways in which wine could be stored. One was in pottery such as the large jugs mentioned in John 2 when Jesus turned the water into wine. Another method of storage was in cured animal skins – leather pouches. As time went by, the leather would age and become dry, stiff, and brittle. In the process of making wine in ancient Israel, the wine would be put into wineskins for storage after only aging for about a week. It would then continue to ferment. A new skin, which would be supple and pliable, would easily expand under the pressure increase as the fermentation continued. If you put new wine in an old wineskin, it would not be able to withstand the pressure and so the leather would rupture.
The same is true for you.
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV)
Shortly after the Armistice of World War I, Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse visited the battlefields of Belgium. In the first year of the war, the area around the city of Mons had been the scene of a great British retreat. In the last year of the war, it was the scene of a great German retreat. For miles to the west of the city, the roads were lined with artillery, tanks, trucks, and other equipment of war that the enemy had abandoned in their hasty flight.
It was a lovely spring day. The sun was shining, and not a breath of wind was blowing. As Barnhouse walked along examining the German war equipment, he noticed that leaves were falling from the great trees arching above the road. He brushed at a leaf that had blown against his breast, and it caught in the belt of his uniform. As he removed it, he pressed it in his fingers, and it disintegrated. He looked up curiously and saw several other leaves falling from the trees. It was not autumn. There was no wind to blow them off. These leaves were seemingly falling without cause.
Then he realized that the most potent force of all was causing them to fall: it was spring. The sap was beginning to run, and the buds were pushing from within. From down beneath the dark earth, roots were sending life along the trunk, branch, and twig until that life expelled every bit of deadness that remained from the previous year. It was, as a great Scottish preacher termed it, “the expulsive power of a new affection.”
When Christ fills our lives, the swelling life within expands us beyond our imagining. The inner life expels unneeded qualities and fills every aspect of life. Once Christ takes up residence in our lives, every aspect of our being—from our intellect to our emotions to our will—undergoes change. And Christ keeps increasing our spiritual capacity so that we will always be able to hold more of his fullness. The more we receive, the more we are able to receive.
Jesus brings a superior relationship in that he is the temple, the focus, and means for fellowship with God. Everything the old temple did, he does better. And when he indwells us, wonder of wonders, we become temples.
God wants to do something radical in you and in me. First, we must let go of our old systems, religious ways, preconceptions, and emotions. We must get out of our own way to allow the gospel of Jesus to do its work. The reformation of any works-based system of righteousness will not work. It must be replaced. Jesus has the authority to forgive sin based on mercy and grace. It is never based on our own righteousness. First, we must approach the throne grace with that kind of humility to admit to him that we are a sinner without any qualifications to save ourselves. Second, we must put our full weight of faith on him, believing that he will save us. Lastly, we commit ourselves to follow him in every aspect of our life. Will you?
